Why This Role MattersSenior Software Engineers are the technical anchors of our teams. You'll be the go-to person for a domain or service, ensuring that what we ship is not only functional but well-designed, tested, and sustainable. Your work will directly impact mission readiness, and your mentorship will shape the next generation of engineers at Bluestaq. You'll balance hands-on delivery with technical leadership, raising the bar for code quality and system design.
Key Responsibilities - Own features and modules that span multiple components/services and require coordination with other teams or roles
- Design and implement non-trivial features with clear tradeoffs (performance, readability, complexity, security)
- Write solid tests (unit, integration, basic end-to-end) and help improve test coverage and reliability
- Identify and address code smells, refactoring opportunities, and tech debt in your area
- Understand core architecture patterns in use (microservices, event-driven, SPA, component-based UI) and work within them effectively
- Operate independently within your product area: scope work, make reasonable design decisions, and proactively raise risks
- Act as an escalation point for junior engineers when debugging issues or clarifying designs
- Mentor others via pairing, feedback, and sharing context, not just fixing things yourself
- Lead medium-sized features from idea 12 design 12 implementation 12 production 12 follow-up
- Debug complex issues that span multiple components or services, including production incidents
- Make incremental improvements to architecture, patterns, and tooling in your domain
Required Qualifications - Strong proficiency in multiple programming languages and frameworks
- Proven ability to design and deliver complex features across the full stack
- Deep understanding of software architecture patterns and design principles
- Experience with automated testing strategies and test-driven development
- Track record of mentoring junior engineers and improving team practices
- Strong debugging and problem-solving skills across distributed systems
- Experience with cloud platforms, containerization, and modern deployment practices
- Excellent communication skills and ability to explain technical concepts clearly
Preferred Qualifications - Experience with microservices architectures and distributed systems
- Familiarity with event-driven architectures and asynchronous processing
- Background in performance optimization and scalability
- Experience working on government, defense, or mission-critical systems
- Knowledge of security best practices and secure coding standards
- Contributions to open-source projects or technical communities
- Experience with observability tools and practices (logging, metrics, tracing)
- Familiarity with customer-facing environments, including Technical Exchange Meetings (TEMs) or similar collaborative forums with stakeholders
Required Experience and Education: - PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 0+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 2+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 4+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR
- Associate degree in a related field and 6+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR
- High School Diploma/GED and 8+ years of software engineering or related experience.
You use modern AI tools with judgment: integrating them into workflows where they're impactful, reviewing their outputs, and handling proprietary or sensitive data responsibly.
Salary Range (CO)
$100,000-$155,000 USD
Clearance Requirement: This position may require an active TS/SCI Clearance. Current clearance holders are strongly encouraged to apply. If you don't currently hold one, Bluestaq will sponsor eligible candidates through the clearance process based on program needs.
Relocation: Relocation assistance may be available for this role and is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Date the Position Closes: Applications will be accepted for 60 days beyond the posting date, or until the position is filled, whichever comes first.
